The Grand Suprise
by TwirlsWrites
Summary: Kind of AU. Ben has a snarky surprise waiting for him... no it's not his daughter. It's fairly close though. Meanwhile issues start buzzing around the household, and 'she' doesn't make it any better. wow... almost a year later- an update! :D
1. Chapter 1

_____**The 'Grand' Surprise**___

_By. Silvar_

_----------------------------------------------_

_**A/N**__: For the record- this story is really quite AU. The ages are messed up, because Silvar is a dolt. And there are some OC's and plot inlays and other shows and whatnot mentioned every now and again. _

_MOST IMPORTANTLY to the story…Ben and Ian's ages are switched out. Again, Silvar is an idiot. Anyhow, this means that at the treasure time Ben was 49, and is now 50(a year later) while IAN is 43 now. Okay. Math all figured? Dunce hat on? Okay- you're ready._

_(AND THIS IS NOT A RILEYxOC!!!!)_

_enjoy._

Alyssa knew she had reached the right house as the taxi pulled in; the house was huge- way huge. And the 'grounds' were all well-kept down to the last sparkling rock in the flawless gravel 'driveway'. Just looking at it all made her wish for a large mud clot- or just _any_ sort of clutter!

Once the taxi came to a stop, Alyssa hopped out and threw a few bills back to the driver. From the stunning, picturesque window to the dining room, she could see him. That was Ben. She glanced down at her dirty brown converses for a minute, and then glanced back up- not being able to contain herself.

Around the table, Ben was just going to sit down. On the other side a pretty blond lady sat in one of the chairs, smiling at something a black-haired man next to her was saying. He was talking emphatically, and one arm was casually draped over the back of the blonde's seat.

Alyssa took a deep breath and, to satisfy herself, kicked a piece of gravel into the perfect, lush green lawn. Then, tugging her small rolling bag behind her, she walked up the 'charming' steps and picked up the door knocker (naturally there was no doorbell) and tapped it against the door 3 times.

Riley was just finishing up his story when the sound of the door knocker rang through the house. (For lack of a better phrase- he never knew what to call it) Ben put down the plates, and walked over to the door and opened it with Riley and Abigail watching in interest from the table.

The girl was wearing a dark-green hoodie and a pair of dark jeans- with a pair of scruffy-looking brown converses. Her light brown hair was pulled up into a haphazard ponytail, and her blue eyes widened when Ben opened the door. In style, his did as well.

"Emma!" he exclaimed. Riley and Emma exchanged a look, "I mean…" Ben said, trying to recover. The girl took on a new expression then: More severe, and sarcastic.

"Oh, there. I was afraid you wouldn't remember her. No though, I'm Alyssa, not Emma." A slight pause, "I'm her granddaughter. Which means, I'm _your_ granddaughter as well."

"W-what?" Ben stuttered, Abi stared for awhile, and then recovered, "Please… Alyssa, come in."

"Oh, thanks!" the girl said, offering a smile from where she leaned against the doorway. She came farther in, pulling her rolling beg behind her, and closed the door. She then turned back to her alleged grandfather, "Yeah." She started, "ummm… you two had mom when you were… 18… I think. Then, ahh, mom had me when she was 17." Alyssa paused, seeming to add something up in her head, then nodded. "I'm 15 by the way," She added.

"Oh…" Ben said, still unsure of what to say.

"Mom was… well, she OD'd –sorry- and Grandma isn't really 'guardian' material. So, the official people said it was either to stay here with you, or foster care." There was another silence, and naturally Alyssa started to babble in order to fill it.

"So are these guys my aunt and uncle?" She asked with some brightness in her tone. Now, she could have been asking if they were siblings. But something in her tone made it clear she was asking if they were. Well… Married.

Riley's arm dropped from around Abby's chair- suddenly aware he was resting it there.

"Oh! No!" he exclaimed, "nononono, I… am Riley Poole, I'm a a a friend, of both Ben and Abby, a friend. A friend." He paused, " I mean. Hi, I'm Riley, aged 28."

"And I'm Abigail Chase." Abby stood and walked over beside Ben, "aged 28 as well." She added, sending a wry smirk over the Riley, who shrugged, "And I'm Ben's girlfriend."

If she had announced that she had found an eye in her drink the silence might have been more awkward. Might have been, being the key word there.

"Ok." Alyssa said with a shrug, "So, is it cool if I stay here?" she asked, turning back to Ben.

"Yeah, of coarse you can." Ben said, running a hand through his hair. He turned to Riley, "Can she stay in the guest room on your floor?" Riley nodded, and Ben looked relieved.

"Come on." Riley said, standing and walking towards the stairs, "Would you like help with your stuff?" Riley asked, motioning to her rolling bag. Alyssa shook her head.

"Nah, I'm good. Lead the way 'Uncle Riley'!" she exclaimed with a smirk. Riley smiled to himself before disappearing up the stairs with her fallowing behind- her rolling suitcase slamming against the stairway with. Each. Step.

"You have your own floor?" Alyssa asked once they were up the stairs. Riley nodded.

"Yup, I rent the third floor." He told her, whilst leading her up another manicured staircase. A short minute later, he pushed open the door to her new room.

Like everything else, the guest room was positively perfect, not to mention meticulously cleaned until it shined. The wood of the classical, four-poster bed was a rich cherry wood that matched the beautiful amour and vanity, not to mention a lovely desk. The sheets and comforter (and the walls) were a light neutral tan, with dark red accents- matching the large floor rug over the nice hardwood.

Alyssa froze, and immediately shut the door, almost clipping Riley in the process. She took a deep breath and opened it again, "Sorry." She said sheepishly, "I'm just not used to everything being perfect- I feel like I'm in a Nancy Drew novel." Riley laughed… in fact it took him about 3 minutes to stop laughing.

"Yeah, Ben's kind of a stickler for perfection." Alyssa looked up in surprise.

"Ben? I figured it was that Abigail lady."

"Nah." Riley said, an almost wistful smirk on his face (if that's possible) "Abby can't match a pair of socks. I actually have a theory that Ben had planned out every room of his dream home before he even found The Charlotte." Alyssa froze again, "Oh, what? Sorry?"

"Nothing- My… my Mom's name was Charlotte." Again, Silence overtook the lovely hallway, "Anyway… I better unpack; I'll talk to you later?"

"Right." Riley said, grinning, "Have fun."

"You got it uncle Riley." She countered, already unzipping the rolling bag.

Ben was still standing in shock, staring at the stairway where his alleged granddaughter had just passé. Abigail walked over and dropped her hands on his shoulders.

"Ben… are you alright?" she said after a moment. He shook her off and started pacing around the wood entryway at panic speed.

"What do you think!" he exclaimed, waving his arms. "I just 'discovered' that I have a daughter. A _dead_ daughter actually… and a _GRANDAUGHTER _who's _here_! Most stupid clichés only have to deal with the daughter part, furthermore a dead druggy one or a granddaughter!" Abigail winced and glanced up.

"So… what are you going to do?" she asked- rather severely, "Throw her out? Hunt someone else down? Find this 'Emma' person? Send her to your dad!?"

"Of coarse not. She can stay here." Ben said, taking a deep breath and resting his head in his hands, "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed."

"It's alright." Abby said, "I'm sorry too."

"Oh God… Dad!" Ben exclaimed, groaning, "How the Hell am I going to tell him!?"

End A/N: Uhhhh Well, I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you want another chapter. :D


	2. Chapter 2

_**The 'Grand' Surprise **_  
(Chapter 2)  
_By. Silvar_

_--__**A/N**__: Yeah, you didn't expect an update huh? Yeah- I shock myself sometimes. Anyway. You might want to reread the first chapter okay? And Remember: Ben and Ian's ages are switched out. Again, Silvar is an idiot. Anyhow, this means that at the treasure time Ben was 49, and is now 50(a year later) while IAN is 43 now. Okay. Math all figured? Dunce hat on? Okay- you're ready._

_(AND THIS IS NOT A RILEYxOC!!)_

enjoy.

"So, Alyssa." Ben said as they all sat at the kitchen table. He was drinking some coffee from a little shop a few miles away that Riley had gone to get earlier. The rest were all eating the doughnuts he had also brought. Alyssa looked up curiously as he continued, "Do you know who your Dad is? Or… was?" Alyssa's eyes got sad.

"Yeah, he disappeared around 5 or 6 years ago." She said sadly, "That was when Mom got all… issue-y." She sighed, her eyes turned to the ceiling. "Mom and him were like 9 or 10 years apart I think." She shook her head furiously, "Anyway, yeah. His name was Ian Howe."

Alyssa quickly caught on rather quickly that they knew the name. Abigail paled, Riley started choking on his food, and Ben looked startled, "What'd I say?" she asked, turning to Abigail (she still didn't talk to Ben much, and Riley was still choking)

"Ian is the filthy rich, filthy evil guy who attempted to steal the treasure from us, and kill us multiple times." Alyssa's eyes got wide, "He's currently in a high-security prison on the other side of town."  
"What?" squeaked Alyssa. Before this information, she had been pretending that it didn't matter much to her, but now she was startled. She actually had an expression scarily similar to her 'grandfather's' across the table, "B-but dad… dad'd never hurt a fly!" she exclaimed, her voice still squeaky.

"Well, I think you may be mistaken." Riley said, his expression dark (now recovered) he was staring off into the distance.

"Anyhow, I think a small chat might be necessary at this point." Ben said. His expression was now dark and brooding also, "So! Can all of us be ready to go in about…" he glanced at the giant antique kitchen clock.

"Yeah." Alyssa said, shoving the rest of the doughnut in her mouth and hopping up, "I'll just go change." She said, hopping up the stairs. Riley, how was already changed, rose and started collecting the dishes. Ben sat there, his expression far away while Abigail rubbed his arm.

Approximately 6 minutes later Alyssa came springing down the stairs, racing towards the door where they sat waiting, "I call shotgun!" she said.

"Hey! No fair." Grumbled Riley. Abigail laughed slightly. Ben remained silent.

He remained silent for much of the 20-minute trip. Alyssa did as well, she'd put her headphones in at first, and took other book for awhile.

"It's just so strange." Abigail whispered to Riley, resting her head on his shoulder, "how this is all connected- it's so surreal." She closed her eyes and sighed, apparently tired.

"I know." Riley whispered, only heard by himself, he moved a bit of her hair behind one of her ears, away from her face, "so surreal."

After another 20 minutes or so of IDing, searching and whatnot, the group was escorted to the visiting room, where Ian sat behind a sheet of bulletproof glass. He looked up as they walked in and his eyes widened, "Alyssa." He said in a strangled voice, startled.

"Dad!" she answered in the same voice, she ran over, Ben close at her heels. She sunk into the seat and stared at her father, "where did you go? Why did you do all of this stuff? Why'd you leave Mom?"

"Yes Ian." The two jumped slightly, apparently having forgotten the Ben and the others were there, "When exactly did you plan on telling me that you were married to my daughter and had a child?"

"Ben. It's not like that." Ian said his voice sad.

"Then what is it like?" Ben asked his voice hard and angry. Ian sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"When you first put it out that you were looking for a funder for you treasure, remember, you held interviews at the local library. I went to go take a look. A man was sitting at one of the tables and introduced himself as Ben Gates." Ian paused, a pained look on his face, "They wanted the treasure Ben. They knew where Charlotte was, they knew where Alyssa was, they showed." He paused again, "they showed a live feed of them to prove it." Alyssa started.

"So, I agreed." Ian stated, "I'm sorry that I never told you Ben. However, I'm not sorry that I went through with it." There was a pause, "and Riley, I'm sorry that I almost shot you many times, that was just because you were annoying." There were chuckles all around except Riley.

"Ian… who were these guys?" Ben asked urgently, giving a worried glance in Alyssa's direction.

"I don't know Ben; I swear if I did I'd tell you." Ian said.

"Yeah and how am I supposed to believe that?" Ben snapped angrily, "We hunted for months and you never even mentioned you had a family, never once mentioned your daughter- my granddaughter. You never said anything."

"Powell." Ian stated, breaking the silence that fallowed Ben's mini-rant, "Powell was their in-man. Shaw never left my side, because he knew that Powell wouldn't."

"Uncle Shaw?" Alyssa asked quietly. The adults averted their gazes, and Riley put a comforting hand on Alyssa's shoulder. She sunk in her chair, her eyes growing watery as she realized what must have happened.

"Alyssa, what are you doing here?" Ian asked after a moment, "Where's Charlotte?" Alyssa's eyes grew sharp again, her expression betrayed as she locked eyes with her father, a man who had left her forever ago.

"She's dead." Alyssa stated woodenly.

The interaction was immediate in Ian. He doubled-over. His pain was etched in his face, and it looked as though he had been punched in the stomach, "No… they, I said. It was my fault; I said that… they said they would leave her if I pleaded guilty. They said, they said she would be spared. No, I…" His head shot up and he locked eyes with Ben, "Emma. You have to find Emma, you have to make sure they don't get Emma." Ian insisted, his eyes wild.

"Dad, dad…" Alyssa stated, causing her father to look at her, "Grandma is in Europe, she's not here. She's safe. She's good." She assured him in a soft tone. Ian shook his head.

"No. They're everywhere." He insisted, "Ben, you have to find Emma, you have to make sure Emma's safe." He turned to his daughter now, "Alyssa, stay with Ben, Benn will make sure you're safe. Benn will make sure you're alright." He said, slowly growing more confident with his words. He turned to Ben again, "Ben, you have to remember…" he glanced behind him worriedly, "they are everywhere. Find Emma, she might be more help than me. Find Powell, find Phil!" he suggested, "but be careful. Don't let anything happen to my daughter, you hear me?" he insisted as the guards came over to end the visit. Ian turned back to Alyssa, "I'm so sorry love." He told her sadly.

It was surprising, Riley had to admit, that people could look the same (now that he noticed, Alyssa really was a brown-haired female version of Ian) but be so different. Of coarse, he didn't even know who Ian was after all, did he? To him, Ian was this evil villain guy. To Alyssa, he was a fluffy, cheery family man… or was he the scumbag who walked out on her? It was hard to tell. Alyssa seemed moody. One minute she was damning him with an upfront statement that her mother, Ian's apparent love, was dead. And the next she was crying her eyes out an hour after she finally got to see him again.

"Riley?" Abigail's voice called quietly from the kitchen.

"What's up?" he asked. He clopped quietly down the stairs, deciding not to go into the distraught girl's room. Abigail had evidently decided the same with Ben's office.

"He decided to stay up tonight." She informed her friend sadly. Even Abigail had slightly red, minorly puffy eyes. Riley hadn't shed a tear. Did this mean that he was cold and unfeeling? Or just that he… what? Riley wasn't sure of himself anymore.

"So… frozen pizza?" Abigail suggested, pulling a box from the giant freezer. She inspected the box carefully, reading the instructions twice before punching a number in the shining stove.

"Abigail, why don't I throw it in?" Riley said with a smirk, plucking the cold box from her hands.

"Hey now, that's not fair!" she exclaimed indignantly, "we've done this a billion times before, don't you think I know how to do this by now?"

"You would think." Riley said, "But that didn't stop you last time from putting it in with the cardboard, or the time before that putting it in with the plastic still on it… four times. Or, or putting it in with both." He drawled. Abigail blushed.

"I'll know not to do that this time!" she exclaimed. She hurriedly pushed him into the dining room, "just waits here 7 to 12 minutes sir!" Riley rolled his eyes, but obliged.

9 minutes later, he returned to the kitchen, happy that there were no scents of burning plastic or burning cardboard or burning pizza. Abigail was sitting at the kitchen table, smoothing out a washcloth on the surface, then scrunching it up, and smoothing it out again. She had a faraway expression on her face.

"Abigail?" Riley tried, breaking her trance.

"Oh, hey." She said.

"What's going on…" he drawled, sitting next to her at the table. She sighed, gazing at the gleaming tabletop.

"Riley, do you think I'd make a good wife?" Abigail asked point blank. Riley's face immediately turned beet red. He was suddenly glad that she was glaring so intently at the table.

"Uh, well I don-"

"Riley?"

"Well, Abi, I think you'd be an amazing wife." He answered honestly.

"What about a mother?" she asked.

"What, A… are you p-pre…." Riley stuttered hopelessly.

"Oh, no." she assured him, turning a bit pink herself, "It's just that… you know, Ben and I have been dating for quite a while now, and he always said that he wanted to take things slow. But, I guess with Alyssa being here, it makes me wonder what happened to Emma? Did he dump her for wanting more?" she sighed, going back to smoothing and crumpling the washcloth, "I mean, I guess she never told him that she was pregnant, but was it because he didn't want kids or something? It just really confuses me. And Worries me." She admitted. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"I always wanted two kids." Riley admitted, "But I've never really had a relationship lasting longer than a month or two." Abigail smiled at him, and he gave a sheepish smile back. Before either could speak, however, the Oven alert went off, startling them both into laughter.

"Set the table, I'll get the pizza." Abigail said with a smile, "Let's eat this thing!"


End file.
